Whats killing my plant? :(

Can anyone identify what is causing some plants in my little garden to suddenly die off? It seems to affect only some plants.. Soil seems fine, no wierd bugs. Average sunshine, no too damp or dry, well fed etc.. It nailed some of my stargazer lillies then the ends of my pieris japonica went brown in the ends, mostly on the new growth.. What is it!? Please help!

 

No I dont, I will test it because I also noticed my azalia didnt flower much this year.
I had to pull out my garden last winter as our neighbours put in a new garden wall. Perhaps when I put in new soil and compost I changed or neutralised the PH. Is compost low acid?

 

Hi @Kevlar79 welcome to the forum.

You need to buy some Ericacious compost from the garden centre or DIY store, dig a hole bigger than the plant, put some ericacious soil in the hole pop in the plant then back fill it with the ericacious compost & whatever you do don't water acidic loving plants with tap water, only use rainwater ,
Best of luck

 

Wow guys, thank you all so much for the help.. Its been driving me nuts! I hope I can get this sorted for next Spring!

 

This is fascinating! I just found out that I live in a fairly acid soil area, so when I had to put the garden back, I used normal soil and compost. No wonder they werent happy! Amazing.. Thank you shiney

 

You say that your neighbours had a wall built. So check that they did not spill mortar on the soil where your acid loving plants are growing. Mortar is very alkaline. We have trouble growing acid loving plants in parts of our garden as the soil is stuffed full of lime mortar from three old houses which were here at one time.

 

Hi Kevlar,
Welcomed to Gardeners Corner



The other thing I would be thinking about is the amount of water it's received. Are the brown bits on the end of the leaves dry and crispy. I really can't see the soil type affecting Stargazer Lilies.

 

Water is fine I think, it does get alot of hot sun ( on sunny days ) being on a west facing white wall. So I watered more with tap water. I see that is a bad idea..
I think its a combination of new low acid soil and a nasty fungal disease which kick the poor planties while they were down. So I will replant with acid rich compost and totally cut back any dead foliage for winter.

 

I'd not like to say what the problem is, but it doesn't look like Chlorosis (lack of iron) to me as some of the foliage looks fine and healthy.

Almost looks like something has been poured over part of the plant, have you got a dog?

 

No, but it would be nice to have one.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Kevlar79.